Chances are, if you've submitted a ticket to Live365, you've interacted with our solutions specialist, Philip Kyler. He's Media Creek, Inc.'s featured team member for the month of September! Media Creek, Inc. is comprised of Live365, EmpireStreaming, and Abovecast.
Pictured above: Philip attending the second night of The Magnetic Fields at the Carnegie Music Hall. They only played two cities on tour in 2018, and Philip was lucky enough to catch them.
Growing up, Philip taught himself to program on his family's C64 and was always surrounded by different types of music and instruments. He has worked in a variety of fields, from specialty coffee to retail management, and enjoys solving the problems customers are encountering. Empowering individuals through an understanding of technology is one of his passions. Philip enjoys an array of interests including technology projects at home and outdoor activities. He is just as likely to spend free time re-wiring his home lab, working on his photography, or bicycling in the middle of nowhere for a few days.
Philip, you're powering through so many of the tickets customers submit when they need help! Can you give a brief recap of what exactly you do for the company?
The Solutions team is both the external and internal help desk for the company. I spend the majority of my time assisting our customers and listeners with support tickets and partnering with the Development team to advocate for their requests. I've always been very passionate about customer service being done the right way, even if it consumes more time than expected. We have a wide range of broadcasters with varying degrees of computer skills and broadcasting experience. These folks are helping to shape what Live365 and Media Creek become down the road, so I make sure to document what they are reporting and to engage with them as much as possible.
Internally, I have created a training program and other documentation to help with on-boarding new team members to the company. I enjoy designing systems, processes, and helping to shape our team culture as a company. Project and Change Management initiatives are the kind of things that get me excited! I'm not a programmer by trade, but have plenty exposure to tech culture. This helps me to have insight into the development process, understand how systems work, and to bring cohesion between our programmers and the other teams.
Going forward, I hope to bring my extensive experience with health and wellness to my Media Creek co-workers and to help cultivate this aspect of our company. There have been lots of concerns raised and awareness generated about the physical and mental well-being of remote IT workers. Some of the things that tech companies have done to help avoid burnout and physical ailments are pretty inspiring. Tech has become the blood that pulses through our society and we need to provide resources for those working in IT and programming. I fully believe in Remote Work becoming the future environment for many organizations, but there are good and bad ways to go about it.
What's the best part about working for Media Creek?
I'm constantly inspired and amazed by the diversity of our customers and listeners. The volume of unique broadcasters coming to us for a licensed streaming solution is really awesome. I have many friends in bands or who DJ, so I understand the passion involved in getting music out there to be heard. At Live365, we have so many interesting DJs and content creators of such a wide range of experience and genres. There are folks on our platform who have been spinning records since the 1980s. We have groups of college students that are making their own podcasts and programming. It's all pretty cool, watching this platform continue to take shape.
I know it's a tough question, but if you had to pick just ONE music genre to listen to for the rest of your life, what would that be?
My initial response was "No Wave" or "Ambient Dub," but they would each get old at some point. I've always been into the Noise genre and could really enjoy a station that only plays tracks from this area of music forever. Albums by the pioneers such as John Cage and Steve Reich can always be listened to for different context, and there are so many sub-genres of Noise that I've barely explored. With Noise, you can enjoy it turned down in the background or become fully immersed in the patterns and ambience.
What is your all-time favorite band and favorite song by them?
The Orb. My favorite song would have to be Oxbow Lakes, from their 1995 release Orbus Terrarum.
You have your own Live365 station, right? Tell us more about it.
I do! Steel City Beats. It's an eclectic variety station. I've got a bunch of old-school IDM, psych-rock, and "new weird American" groups on there. I have been featuring more of the artists that I've found through Bandcamp recently and am working on having more of a weekly schedule. For now, there is an hour of new tracks twice a day.
Other than Steel City Beats (which I'm totally loving), what's your favorite Live365 station?
Hawaiian Hi-Fi. This station always has a really amazing mix of vocal and instrumental groups from the Hawaiian and Island genres. I tune in when I am working from home and am in need of some Big Island vibes. The station owner has done a great job of converting his vinyl collection and I have a ton of respect for someone devoted to sharing unique styles of music with the world.
Learn more about Media Creek, Inc. and its brands. Have questions? Email us at hello@mediacreek.net.
Article image: ktphotography [CC0] via Pixabay.
